Monday, 10 May 2010

No mother likes it when her toddler starts crying, but at the Naki Sumo baby crying contest wailing is actually encouraged. Held every year, at the Sensoji Temple, in Tokyo, the baby crying festival is a 400-year-old tradition, believed to keep rug-rats in good health.

Amateur sumo wrestlers hold the babies high in the air, and try to scare them into crying, while a sumo referee judges the match. The toddler who cries longest and loudest is considered the winner. Japanese parents bring the babies to the Naki Sumo Baby Crying Contest of their own free will, and truly believe the sumo induced crying keeps their children in good health, and wards off evil spirits.